"2026 Portugal • China Film Week" Kicks Off, 5 Chinese Films Await Audiences in Lisbon

LISBON, Portugal, Sept. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- On the evening of September 18 local time, "2026 Portugal•China Film Week" opened in Lisbon, presenting five Chinese films to local audiences - A Table for Two (opening film), A Writer's Odyssey II, Nobody, Her Story, and As the Water Flows. From September 18 to September 20, these five Chinese films will be screened at Cinema Ideal and Cinema Fernando Lopes in Lisbon.

Yang Yirui, Ambassador of China to Portugal; Fang Shizhong, Director of Shanghai Film Bureau and Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the Shanghai International Film Festival Organizing Committee; and renowned Portuguese actor José Martins, among others, jointly attended the opening ceremony of the film week.

After the opening ceremony, guests and audiences settled in for the opening film, the "Shanghai-produced" film A Table for Two. Producer Jessica Chen attended the post-screening exchange and shared behind-the-scenes stories, drawing sincere applause from the crowd.

The five films vary in styles. A Table for Two turns its lens on the urban lives of young Chinese, told with a light and tender touch; Nobody, drawing inspiration from traditional Chinese culture, has been hailed as "a hero's dream gifted to every ordinary person"; Her Story trains a witty, buoyant eye on the coming-of-age of urban women; A Writer's Odyssey II showcases the growing power of China's industrialized filmmaking through Eastern imagination; and As the Water Flows offers a delicate portrait of Chinese family bond and life itself through everyday texture of home. Together, these five works mirror the creative pulse of contemporary Shanghai cinema and the diversity of Chinese film today, and stand as proof of what the Shanghai International Film Festival's three-pronged engine of "industry events, professional awards, and overseas tours" can nurture in young filmmaking talent.

This event is supported by the China Film Administration and the Embassy of China in Portugal, guided by the Shanghai Film Bureau, hosted by the Shanghai International Film & TV Events Center, and co-organized by Associação Il Sorpasso, Cinema Ideal, and Cinema Fernando Lopes, with special support from Fantasporto and Persona Non Grata Pictures.

As the films end, exchanges continue. Next June, the Shanghai International Film Festival looks forward to more filmmakers from around the world bringing their films to Shanghai, meeting Chinese audiences, and discovering opportunities. Screens will bridge distance and bring cultures back into sync.